Reading Challenged Books
Majikthise and Kevin Drum and others are going over the list of 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books (as in, by those seeking to ban them) to see how many they've read. Kevin logs 14, Lindsay 29. Here are mine:
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger ("I shoot people in this hat.")
19. Sex by Madonna (I don't remember why, but I'm sure the reason was inadequate)
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous (A "memoir" every bit as fake as Catcher in the Rye, and in any case apparently it failed to keep me off the sauce.)
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Why?)
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein (Again, Why?)
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Irony, anyone?)
55. Cujo by Stephen King (As opposed, one supposes, to his violent books.)
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest (Challenged, I imagine, for being utterly depressing.)
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
77. Carrie by Stephen King (There we go -- violence plus the prom . . .)
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King (. . . plus ESP and assassination)
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford (Seriously? Must be a gay couple portrayed in one of the pictures or something.)
It appears from a brief review of this list that virtually every children's book get challenged? Since I was never much for juvenile fiction, the preponderance of same, especially Judy Blume's stuff which comprises a whopping five percent of this list (beating out such superficially lewd authors as Anne Rice), is not reflected by my own peculiar list. As you might tell, Stephen King was my juvenile author of choice.
My final tally: a woeful twenty. And now, with genuine curiosity I pass this one to the folks at Bloodless, Emily, and Brian.
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger ("I shoot people in this hat.")
19. Sex by Madonna (I don't remember why, but I'm sure the reason was inadequate)
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous (A "memoir" every bit as fake as Catcher in the Rye, and in any case apparently it failed to keep me off the sauce.)
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Why?)
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein (Again, Why?)
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Irony, anyone?)
55. Cujo by Stephen King (As opposed, one supposes, to his violent books.)
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest (Challenged, I imagine, for being utterly depressing.)
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
77. Carrie by Stephen King (There we go -- violence plus the prom . . .)
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King (. . . plus ESP and assassination)
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford (Seriously? Must be a gay couple portrayed in one of the pictures or something.)
It appears from a brief review of this list that virtually every children's book get challenged? Since I was never much for juvenile fiction, the preponderance of same, especially Judy Blume's stuff which comprises a whopping five percent of this list (beating out such superficially lewd authors as Anne Rice), is not reflected by my own peculiar list. As you might tell, Stephen King was my juvenile author of choice.
My final tally: a woeful twenty. And now, with genuine curiosity I pass this one to the folks at Bloodless, Emily, and Brian.
posted by Moon | 9/28/2005 12:59:00 PM
2 Comments:
i see your 20 and i raise you... nah, i only had 16.
http://throckmorton.blogspot.com/2005/09/banned-on-run.html
Kinda limited. There are some I just don't get (Allende?) why there were banned. And on the kid books, I had a pretty conservative upbringing in which Judy Blume was strictly prohibited, but read them at friends' houses. Nothing like the parental disapproval to spark interest!
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